Nintendo is betting big on indie games with the Nintendo Switch and in a recent interview with GamesIndustry, Damon Baker explains why his company has gone out of its way to be friendly with indie developers like Devolver Digital, Double Fine, Chucklefish, Team 17 and more.
“The way we’re looking at Switch is this is a complementary platform. If it’s on Steam, then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be on Nintendo Switch as well. If you want to take that experience on the go, if you want to have a baked in multiplayer experience, this is the system to do it. It’s got those points of differentiation, but we’re not trying to go head-to-head against any of the other platforms. We just think that if the content makes sense to be over on our platform then it should be on our platform.”
The best part of this is that it’s become obvious that Nintendo has understood exactly how important indie developers are to its ecosystem. The PS Vita was a startling example of that as it has been the release of indie games that people want to play on the go to keep that system going when Sony has all but given up on it.
Nintendo aims to take its place with the Nintendo Switch as a complementary system that lets you play any game you want on the go. More than 60 confirmed indie titles are in development for the Nintendo Switch and they’ll be trickled out of the life of the console for the next 18 months. Nintendo learned its lesson with months of drought of no new games with the Wii U, too.
“We are just really taking an approach with the launch window to make sure the content really resonates with fans. We’re not saying no to content that only uses the touchscreen or doesn’t use the Joy-Con in a unique way, but at the same time we’re trying to encourage those developers and have a conversation with them and say, ‘Look, fans are probably expecting these types of fun features and functionality in the game’ so maybe they should consider them and take a look at what it would take to implement that technology into the game if it makes sense for that type of experience.”
Another lesson that Nintendo has learned from the Wii U is that the Nintendo Switch includes support for popular development platforms like Unity and Unreal Engine from day one. That opens up compatibility for a lot of titles that may have struggled to operate on Nintendo’s custom operating system for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.